outrageous werewolves facts you probably never knew

The idea of werewolves became most widespread in Europe with almost every European country having its own version of this folklore mythological monster.

In fact, there is an actual medical condition referring to werewolves. Hypertrichosis, also known as the Werewolf Syndrome is a condition that causes an abnormal amount of hair growth over the body.

In the 2nd century famous Greek surgeon and physician Galen of Pergamon described a health condition as clinical lycanthropy. It was a psychiatric syndrome when a patient thought he could transform into an animal.

Werewolves are sometimes also called Lycanthropes. This term comes from Ancient Greek words Lukos (meaning wolf) and Anthropos (meaning human). The origin of the Lycanthrope idea dates as far back as to the 5th century BC when a renowned Greek historian Herodotus mentioned a tribe from Scythia that transformed into wolves once every year for several days, and then changed back to their human shape.

The word werewolf derives from Old English compound were (meaning man) and wulf (meaning wolf).